Railroad-signal



1"'. J.;s HBPHfA'R'DI-'sp El, PRNG RooK.- 9 i RILRA'D SIGNAL. No. 429,390. Patented June 3', 1890.

(No Model.)

j? gbl/WWW rm n 5w, MW @m @y 5m @www UNITED STATES s FRANCIS J. SHEPI-IARD AND HENRY FORNCROOK, OF CONCORD, WISCONSIN.

RAI LROAD-SIG NAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,390, dated J une 3, 1890.

Application filed August 26, 1889. Serial No. 321,932. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that we, FRANCIS J. SHEPHARD and HENRY FORNCROOK, of Concord, in the county of Jefferson, and in the State of lViscousin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Signals; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to railroad-signals; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, as will be fully set forth hereinaft-er and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the operating portions of our device, partly broken away. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, also partly broken away; and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. l.

A represents one rail of'an ordinary railroad-track, and B B two of the supportingties thereof, which extend some little distance beyond the outside of said rail, preferably farther than the other ties C C, the ties B B being united outside of said rail by crossties D D. From each tie B to the adjacent tie C beyond it We extend a wear-plate E, and to headed bolts a a, projecting up from said Wear-plate, are secured the slotted ends of a spring F, (preferably a semi elliptic leafspring, as shown,) the elongated slots` b in said spring ends receiving the shanks of the said bolts a, the heads of said bolts extending transversely across and over said slots.

G is a double bell-crank lever, the short inner arm c of which is pivoted, as at d, to the bifurcated pendent ends of a hanger e, secured to the under side of the spring F, at the center thereof, and the horizontal portion of the double bell-crank G is journaled in boxes ff on the cross-ties D D, While the long outer arm g of said double crank G projects upward in an approximately vertical position.

and has an eye 7L at its upper end, by which it is connected to a rod H, or a cord, wire, or chain t', as preferred.

I is a post placed adjacent to the highway at the point crossed by the railroad-track, and J is a bell secured to said post and connected, as by a cord, chain, Wire, or rod t', to the rod, Wire, cord, or chain H, or to a continuation of the same, it being our intention to place our spring and lever at a point considerably distant from the post I, the latter being near the lway-train pass over the track at the point where our device is located, the tread of each f Wheel, as shown at K in dotted lines in Fig.

3, -will press down on the spring F, and the depression ofthe spring (whose slotted ends enable this to be done without injury) also depresses the short arm c of the double cranklever G and draws the long arm g of said lever to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, thereby also drawing upon the line H c' and ringing the bell J or actuating any other signal used in place of or in addition to said bell, and thereby giving instant and timely warning at the crossing a thousand feet, more or less, distant of the approach of the train, the bell J being rung, of course, with every wheel that passes over the spring F.

In order to prevent the spring F from being crowded away from the track by the Wheels so as to be rendered inoperative, we preferably employ a guard or keeper L, which may be made in one piece with the wearplates E, if desired, as shown in Fig. 1, secured to the ties B B, and preferably centrally braced, as by brace-rod M, bolted to said guard and to the outer cross-tie D.

We may vary the form or style of our spring, if desired, but have found the form shown to Work Well in practice.

When in any instance we may desire to have the bell continue to ring for a longer time than usual, We inay unite the rod H to the long outer arm g by a slot andwrist pin in place of the connection shown, and then the vibrations or oscillations of the bell will continue for a considerably longer period than with the style of connection shown in the drawings.

Having thus described our invention, what Weg-claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the wear plates adapted to be secured parallel with the rail IOO the rock-shaft and connected, substantially as described, to a bell or other signal, for the purpose set forth.

ln testimony that We elairn Jche foregoing we have hereunto set our hands, at Oeonomowoe, in the county of l/Vaukesha and State of Wiseonsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANCIS J. SHEPHARD. HENRY FORNCROOK.

Witnesses:

FRIEDRICH WILL, FRANK SCHIMMELPFENNIG. 

